Having just sat through the very strange Machete Kills, I can honestly say that I’ll never look at Sofia Vergara the same way again. As Gloria on Modern Family, she’s already proven that she can be funny; as probably the most entertaining secondary character in Machete Kills, she’s proven that she can be lewd. But as a co-star in an comedy set to premiere in the already overloaded Summer of 2015? I’m not so sure.
MGM and New Line are banking on the dual threats of Vergara and Reese Witherspoon to be able to stand up against the likes of Avengers: Age of Ultron and Jurassic World without embarrassing themselves too much. The two actresses have been cast opposite each other in an untitled buddy comedy set to premiere in 2015. The plot of the film centers around a by-the-book cop (Witherspoon) who has to protect the out-going widow of a drug boss (guess who?) as they race across Texas pursued by criminals and crooked cops. The film was originally called Don’t Mess With Texas, and has Anne Fletcher (The Guilt Trip) set to direct off a script from David Feeney and John Quaintance.
The plot sounds like pretty much every unlikely buddy movie ever made, but the kicker here is of course the presence of two women instead of men. As The Heat proved, women are funny too (who knew?!), and can bring in the box office receipts just as well as men. The question is more if Witherspoon and Vergara have the comedic chops to hold down an action-comedy by themselves. I think they can do it. Both have done some pretty good comic work before, and both are enjoyable screen presences. With the right direction and the right script, this one could be pretty good.
Only time will tell, of course, and 2015 is a long way away. We’ll keep an eye out for information on the buddy comedy and let you know when we hear anything.
